GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Steve Bywater has been in love with motorcycles his entire life. The first time he heard the rumble of a bike when he was kid, he knew he wanted to ride.
“Oh, it’s very addictive,” Bywater said during an interview with FOX 17 on Thursday. “I mean, am I done riding? I’m not 100 percent positive on that.”
It’s a question Bywater, 52, has been asking himself since Tuesday, May 9 of this year.
“I don’t remember a lot of it” he said while sitting in a motorized wheelchair. “I remember pulling in. I was up on Sidney Road, right up by Crystal, between Crystal and Greenville. And I remember coming into the corner. As I came into the corner there was a car.”
Bywater paused as tears filled his eyes.
He said he needed a second before he continued talking about the crash.
“I was pulling into the corner, turned a curve, and there was a car halfway over the line,” Bywater recalled. “So, I adjusted, get to the edge of the road, wobbled through and ended up going into the ditch.”
Then, Bywater died, he said.
“I had a physician’s assistant, I can’t remember what her name is but out of the Greenville area, find me and bring me back to life,” Bywater said. “And then I died again in the ambulance.”
Bywater said he doesn’t remember anything. However, he was told later on that he died twice that night.
“Everyone says that you see a light. I don’t remember seeing nothing,” Bywater said. “I mean it was just total darkness.”
Bywater said after the PA found him he was sent to Gratiot Community Hospital in Alma, where he lives. Then he was transferred to Midland and then to a hospital in Saginaw where he had neck surgery and the nurses put a feeding tube in him.
Once he was stable he was transferred to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids.
“Actually he was riding the motorcycle without a helmet. He’s fortunate his head injury was not you know a big component,” said Mary Free Bed’s Dr. Sam Ho. “But, he came in with a motorcycle crash on May 9. He had an interior cervical fusion through the neck.”
Bywater suffered a concussion, and broke his C3, 4, and 5 in his neck. Dr. Sam Ho and a team of nurses have been by Bywater’s side, helping him to regain strength.
Dr. Ho, who specializes in spinal injuries, said when Bywater was admitted he had no motor functions. He’s since made progress but he doesn’t think he’ll ride again anytime soon.
“In the future whether he can or not is yet to be seen because right now he does not have the grip strength to control a lot of things. But somebody up there makes all the decisions,” said Dr. Ho pointing towards heaven.
Bywater is expected to leave on Friday, July 14. He said his wife is getting their home in Alma prepared.
He’ll continue to receive therapy on a weekly basis at Mary Free Bed, and he hopes to one day ride again. Nevertheless, he’s grateful the staff never gave up on him.
“I’m Charlie and they’re my angels,” he said. “You know, they’re taking care of me.”
